Lost and found pictures
You will need: white paper or card, white crayons or white wax candles, and water colours or watered-down paint
This is a helpful way to explore the story’s theme of lost and found. The wax design is uncovered or ‘found’ when it is painted over.
Encourage the children to use white crayons or candles to draw designs on the paper or card. The designs could be simple patterns or something very personal to them, reflecting parts of their personalities. The designs will be very hard to see as white is being drawn onto white and this emphasises the ‘lost’ theme of the story. Children can now paint over the wax and, as they do, the white design will be revealed. It’s very effective if children swap papers before the painting stage because then they are able to ‘find’ someone else’s designs.
Special people: shaving foam marbling
You will need: a shallow tray or plate, shaving foam, paint, cocktail sticks, lolly sticks and people shapes cut from coloured card
This can be a bit messy but helps children explore the theme of uniqueness and importance to God. Each finished picture will be entirely different and personal. Let children choose a colour of card that most reflects them (eg their favourite colour from the selection) and cut a person shape from it to represent themselves.
Spread shaving foam across the bottom of the tray or plate, making sure there is enough to completely match the size of the card person they have cut out. Drop small drops of paint into the shaving foam and use a cocktail stick to make swirling patterns. Again children can choose the colours they like best.
Press the person shape down on top of the paint swirls and carefully lift it off. Use a lolly stick to scrape away the shaving foam and paint, and see the unique artwork revealed underneath!
Celebration bunting
You will need: paper or card cut into large triangles, string or ribbon, pens, sequins, stickers, coloured paper and glue
We often put up bunting when we are celebrating. This craft gives children the freedom to express the joy and celebration of finding the lost sheep and to explore ideas about how God might celebrate ‘finding’ each of them.
Give each child a triangle and ask them to use the assorted collage materials to decorate it to reflect the celebration of joy in heaven when the lost sheep is found. They might want to include elements of the story, things to do with their own personalities or to respond in an entirely different and unique way! When the children have finished, string the bunting together by either stapling the triangles to ribbon or by punching holes in the tops of triangles and threading string through them. Allow time for children to share and talk about their triangles and to relate them to the story if they want to.
Under-5s | Sensory sand searching
You will need: flour, oil (baby oil or vegetable oil), a large container and loom bands of various colours (20-30 is a good number)
This is an easy-to-make sensory activity that actively involves younger children in the theme of ‘lost and found’. Mix the flour and oil, with eight cups of flour to one cup of oil. Mix until the two have fully combined. The mixture will resemble shortbread mix, which looks like flour but will clump together if you press it. Sort out your loom bands so that there are a variety of colours but make one the target colour. Mix all of the loom bands into the ‘sand’ and challenge the children to find them, especially the single target colour loom band, which the children have to find. Use this as a springboard to talking about the joy of finding the single lost sheep.
